Ken Fritz's $1M Dream System update

I followed the online auction, and based on my math, the ENTIRE AUCTION, all 668 audio items in the house, only brought in $167,000 based on adding up all the final auction bids.  Unreal.  In an interview, Ken estimated his entire system build and room cost him around $1.25 million.

In my opinion, the Krell gear was the only gear that brought a decent return.  The Denon PBN turntable was a STEAL.  PBN tables without arms can sell for $30,000.  This had 2 Kuzma arms that are $10,000 each and cartridges that also run almost $11,000 each.  That's $40,000 costs in JUST the 2 arms and cartridges.  I spoke with somebody at PBN, and this current build would run approximately $60,000.  The winning bidder got an endgame table, a Super Denon on Steroids, for $10,750.

The "Frankentable" went for $19,750.  Considering $19,000 is what I priced a Kuzma Tangential Arm at, and his turntable had TWO OF THEM, plus another Kuzma arm, and all three arms had cartridges that cost over $10,000 each....yeah, it sold for pennies on the dollar. Ken had estimated he had close to $150,000 in it in just PARTS. In the end, it was an albatross.

@grannyring -- I’m not saying anything negative about Mr. Fritz. I never met him and I don’t speak ill of the dead. However, the forum members making comments could have read the exact same article I read in the Washington Post that delved into the family break-up prior to his death.  The article started off with,"He spent his life building a $1Million Stereo.  The real cost was unfathomable."

Ken was estranged from one son, and after his terminal diagnosis they attempted a reconciliation which went WAY SOUTH, with Ken’s son’s last words to him being, "I hope you die a slow and miserable death." Apparently, all of his children were estranged up until the end when he reconnected with one son (in the documentary) and his daughter.

The Washington Post article was a tough read -- it pulled no punches. It looks to be behind a paywall now, but I highly recommend trying to track down a copy to read. Then go hug your spouse, kids, and family. I know I did.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/interactive/2024/ken-fritz-greatest-stereo-auction-cost/

@rooze and @veerossi 

I too am "ears wide open" to any additional information that reveals opposing information and would love to know what gear was not included in the online auction list I used to compile my spreadsheet.  I was handling the Probate Estate of my Mother at the time Ken's auction was occuring, and therefore I had an Excel  spreadsheet I created to help me with her estate items. 

To take my mind off of being an Executor, I made a copy of the spreadsheet and plugged Ken Fritz's stereo gear into the columns.  I had watched the documentary soon after it was originally released, so I was familiar with the items listed in the online auction.  I went back and watched the documentary again, and compared the items highlighted in it to the listed auction items.  I didn't see any disparity of note of the items shown in the documentary to the items listed for sale -- especially the audio gear in Ken's main room. 

Was there a lot more expensive gear not shown in the documentary that was sold prior to the auction?  For example, the Denon PBN turntable, 2 SOTA turntables, custom Tannoy speakers, custom JBL speakers, 2 Cayin and 1 Dynaco tube amp, an unreal number of JBL and Focal drivers in boxes, Krell gear, custom audio stands -- I could go on and on -- all were not mentioned in the documentary (that I saw) but are listed sold with the price online.  Do you know what other gear he may have had that wasn't shown in the documentary or on the auction site?  You said a lot of "high value gear/media was sold before the auction" -- I'd love to know what other gear Ken owned.

Did you get to go to his house near Richmond in person to view the pre-auction items?  If so, I'd love to know your impression.  Did you hear the main room system? Prior to the auction announcement, I read a forum thread authored by a friend of the daughter.  He was assisting the family early on when they were trying to figure out what to do.  Someone asked him if he had heard the system, and he said the daughter didn't know how to turn everything on, and at that time she wasn't sure who knew exactly how to set everything up properly. 

I'm envious if you saw everything in person, mainly because of the vinyl collection Ken owned and the actual listening room.  It looked beautiful in the documentary -- the furnishings, the ceiling's molding, the rugs, etc.  Thank you for any additional information you can provide.